Phoenix, Compaq and Intel define new industry specification that enables multiple booting options; New specification allows PC users to launch from virtually any device including CD-ROM drives, PC Cards or Network

Business Wire, Nov 13, 1995

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 13, 1995--Phoenix Technologies Ltd., Compaq Computer Corporation and Intel Corporation, today released the BIOS Boot Specification, a tightly defined set of instructions that standardizes PC system boot procedures and enables a PC to boot from virtually any device containing the specification's new Initial Program Load (IPL) identification.

CD-ROM drives, PC Cards (formerly PCMCIA cards), network controller cards and other bootable devices that once created considerable confusion, can now be intelligently identified and prioritized by the PC system BIOS.

In the past, peripheral devices only allowed the user to boot from a limited range of media in a prearranged priority. Today, PC users are linking additional bootable peripherals to their systems. The BIOS Boot Specification defines codes by which each device can be identified by the BIOS and assigned a logical boot priority, thereby more closely linking all of the system capabilities. The authors have made the specification available to the industry at no charge in order to accommodate the introduction and functionality of existing and future peripheral devices.

Increasing System Functionality

Phoenix, Compaq and Intel worked together developing the BIOS Boot Specification to provide their customers with an improved method for dynamically utilizing and identifying system resources during the boot process.

"This is the most significant move in industry standardization since the Plug and Play BIOS Specification was released last year," explained Gayn Winters, chief technology officer at Phoenix Technologies. "The success of Plug and Play has led to a dramatic increase in the use of peripheral devices like PC Cards and CD-ROM drives and has forced the industry to better define and prioritize the boot options available to the system."

According to Dr. Winters, "With the growing number of boot devices available today, the boot process has become more complicated than simply booting off the hard drive or floppy drive. For example, while one may want to boot from the CD-ROM drive first, they may want the second attempt to boot off the network. In other words, users need to be able to assign a logical priority to each individual boot device."

A Better Way to Boot

The BIOS Boot Specification is incorporated into the PC as a standard feature of the system BIOS. The technology is built upon the Plug and Play BIOS Specification co-authored by Phoenix, Compaq and Intel. The main feature is the boot priority, a user-specified priority of boot devices that is arranged in Setup. The boot priority is similar to past boot orders, A: then C:, etc., except that it supports additional devices like those mentioned above, Plug and Play cards, CD-ROM drives, PC Cards, etc.

In addition, the number of devices in the system may vary from one power-on to another. Each time the user turns the system on, the BIOS enumerates all boot devices and updates the boot priority automatically. If a boot device fails to load an operating system, the BIOS regains control and will attempt to boot from the next device and continues this process until all devices have been tried. This method ensures that the BIOS has intelligently made every attempt to boot using all the available resources.

Overwhelming Industry Approval

The specification was presented and released to the industry for review on July 13, 1995, at a conference hosted by Microsoft Corp. In attendance were card vendors, system manufacturers, operating system vendors and system BIOS manufacturers. Together with Compaq and Intel, Phoenix Technologies also demonstrated a working prototype that was greeted with resoundingly positive approval.

Copies of the BIOS Boot Specification are available on the World Wide Web at: http://www.ptltd.com. -0-

Note to Editors: Compaq, Intel, Phoenix and Microsoft are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of their respective companies (Registered, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office). All other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

For further information contact:

Phoenix Technologies Ltd, Scott Townsend, 714/440-8364, scott_townsend@ptltd.com Compaq Computer Corp., Kevin Winert, 713/374-8528, kevinw@bangate.compaq.com Intel Corporation, Mark Shipman, 503/696-2318, mark_shipman@ccm2.hf.intel.com Microsoft Corporation, Mike Glass, 206/936-4116, mglass@microsoft.com

CONTACT: Phoenix Technologies Ltd.

Thomas Benoit, 408/452-6507

or

The Benjamin Group Inc.

Elizabeth Deans, 714/753-0755